


science never sleeps

by boingoroni



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: M/M, Manga Spoilers, Semi-Canon Compliant, Slow Build, first chapter is set near the beginning of the cellphone arc the rest follow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-23 12:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20340361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boingoroni/pseuds/boingoroni
Summary: a look into the growing relationship between senku and gen. aka these two emotionally constipated goons need to buck up and say what they feel alreadyedit: dont know why the word count isnt showing up for me. in case u cant see it as well, it's currently at: 1765





	science never sleeps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> asymptote: (n.) in mathematics, the line that which a given curve continually approaches but does not meet in any finite distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was just supposed to be ur average "guess we have no choice but to Sleep in the Same Bed🤷" fic, but these two stubborn mfs jUST REALLY WERENT LETTING ME,,, you'll see where i tried to get them together, but then senku was like Nope. Bye. and thus this turned into a multichp endeavor. hopefully i can maneuver these two to listen to me sometime soon

As the village chief, Senku had a hut all to his own. It was furnished well as far as the current primitive stardards went. Ironically, as well kept as it was, he rarely ever used it. Most days he fell asleep near the labs or shacked up in Chrome's warehouse.

So Gen, ever the opportunist, decided that he'd take residence there. He didn't always though. He switched it up, changing where he'd sleep day to day as a shallow countermeasure against anyone out to get him. Like Magma, his goons, any of Tsukasa's men sour that he turned traitor. Gen was flighty by nature and would sleep in one night, disappear the next without a trace.

But Jasper, resident rule enforcer within the village (Kinro enforced them outside), noticed. Brought it up with the village council, curious about what this outsider was doing in the Chief's Quarters. Finally Senku was involved. Seeing Gen restrained by two village guards and shooting him a sheepish look, he waved it off with a "Let the mentalist do what he likes."

Gen looked entirely too pleased until his grin was wiped off by Kaseki pulling him aside.

So it was a surprise when Senku and Gen found themselves eventually occupying the same room.

Gen was on a pretty low alert rotation. It was starting to get rainy, and they had ruled out the possibility of Tsukasa's Army invading at that point in time. He was thankful he hadn't had to sleep in some tree in the forest or that cave close to the village.

Before he had officially aligned with the Kingdom, he'd been somewhat of a vagabond. Sent on excursions, on foot, on edge the whole time because of the nature of his double agent role. So lately he found himself shacking up in Ishigami's equivalent of a high rise luxury penthouse. As they say, live it up while you still can (before they went to war with the Empire of Might.)

Coincidentally, Senku seemed to have a similar mindset. Possibly a little rattled by the recent brush by with Hyouga. Antsy to prepare arms and the ultimate weapon for Tsukasa. He'd been retreating to the Chief's Quarters and sleeping there, maybe because of the weather, maybe because of the security, maybe because the rest of the village was situated there.

Gen made sure to keep track of Senku's schedule, and adjust his own to avoid crossover. But as all mentalists are intimately familiar with, sometimes you can't predict what people will do.

Gen was in the process of stripping down to just his undershirt when Senku came in through the doorway.

Oh.

He slowly pulled his pants back up.

"Oh my, Senku, didn't know you were the type." He placed a dainty hand over his mouth and pretended to gasp.

"Pff, I'll just head back to the labs."

Gen's first instinct was to leave him be. Not to interfere with another man's resolve. But he recalled earlier today when there'd been an argument between Kohaku and him that'd been a headache to get over. They sorted it out, but it was bound to leave a bit of tension for a couple days. Guess it seemed Senku wasn't just a stone cold scientist.

"Why not stay? It's no bother to me, I'm honestly quite lonely~." Gen made sure to play up the fact that Senku would be the one doing _him_ the favor, not the other way around.

"Kukuku, I see what you're doing, mentalist. Why're you tryin' to get me to stay?"

Gen grinned. Ah. That's why he always liked him.

"I already told you. I'm lonely, and it's cold outside." He wrapped his arms around himself and pretended to shiver. Never mind that he'd been the one disrobing in the first place. "I promise I won't do anything you don't ask for first, little Senku."

Senku rolled his eyes and placed a hand on his hip. "Save it for one of your shitty harems when we take back the cave."

Oh, so he had a sense of humor, too.

"You're going outta your way just to secure a harem for me? And here I thought I'd be lonely in this stone world!" Gen clasped his hands together and sparkled his eyes in joy.

Senku scoffed and turned to leave the room, raising his hand behind him signaling that the conversation was over.

***

It was during a lull when the squad was fine tuning some of the components for the gold-spinning machine when Ginro brought up the topic of girls.

"Senku, you said science would give everyone more free time right?" Ginro was slaving away at some power source thing and draped over a stone they were leveraged on. Kinro prodded his limp body to try to get him back to work.

"Heh," Senku quirked his lips. "Depends on how you qualify free time. Unlocking new technology always opens up a buncha new levels to explore. It's openbound, so there's no end to discovering and inventing."

Chrome's ears perked up at Senku's words, but Gen could tell Ginro's motivation was faltering.

"Well, it's only like that for Science Freaks like Senku, little Ginro," Gen assured him. "Regular people, like me, used modern technology for things like playing thousands of games at the touch of a button, chatting with anyone you liked over the internet... hooking up with _girls_ on phone apps." He made sure to put emphasis on that last bit.

"You could? Find a girlfriend? On the phone??" Ginros pace immediately picked up.

"Bleugh, they're already annoying in real life, and then they could get to you on a phone?" Chrome was tasteless as usual. Ginro ignored him as well.

"Yes, of course. Multiple perhaps, if you wanted~." Gens smile stretched over his face.

"D-did you have a girlfriend? How many?" So Ginro was the type to get enjoyment from secondhand stories.

He couldn't tell him that he didn't really have time to play around with romance. He finished highschool early just to get a jumpstart as a performing magician and was effectively booked day in and day out. Busy contacting venues and executives to get noticed or snag sponsorship contracts. Gen kept his smile wistful, like he was recalling a memory from thousands of years ago, which funnily enough, he was.

"I was a famous performer, so I had fans lined up." _Usually middle-aged housewives who were easily impressed and edgy teenage boys who wanted to steal his manipulative tricks._ "All along the rows in the audience were cute girls fawning over me.

"My _phone_ was always backed up with messages, chat requests, emails-" _Gigs, business opportunities, scams._ "-from cute chicks around the world!"

Surprisingly, Senku joined back into the conversation. Gen thought he tuned all this crap out. "At least when you get up to something, you don't half-ass it, Asagiri Gen."

Gen couldn't tell if he had revealed too much about himself through his statements, or what information Senku took away from them exactly, so he decided it best not to respond at all. On the other hand, Ginro was drooling about the future and Kinro was back to prodding him, but this time to pay closer attention.

***

The second time they ran into each other at night was near the labs.

Gen had been tasked by Kaseki to put a small intricate set of gears together, but earlier in the day he couldn't get it to fit exactly right. Even if Gen was just a mentalist, he had a bit of pride in his handiwork. Magic tricks were all about meticulous prop preparation. Every set piece and every backup needed to be ready in advance. But part of that pride was hiding the fact that he obsessed over his props in the first place.

He snuck out to the labs to reattempt the task without anyone else seeing. He was so engrossed that he didn't notice when another person entered the lab as well.

"You know it'd definitely be easy mode to do that in better lighting."

No, Gen didn't just get startled. He was always collected.

"But you're here too, little Senku~. Wouldn't better lighting be better for whatever you're going to make as well?."

Senku waved his hand flippantly. "It's calculations that are bugging me, and I couldn't get one millimeter of sleep."

Gen mused. That side of Senku was slowly becoming more endearing each day. A millimeter of sleep? It made as much sense as something like an hour of ramen, although that didn't sound half bad.

"Couldn't you have done them in your head? In your room?" 

"Needed the lab. Fresh air for the noggin," Senku quickly answered and moved passed Gen to the back of the room to collect his makeshift blueprints.

"I wouldn't exactly call the lab air the freshest." Gen exaggeratedly sniffed the air with his nose, but stopped when he remembered his old highschool chemistry teacher warning the class about the wafting. "Oh, whoopsie, I probably shouldnt be doing that." It's all about the wafting, bro. He heard Senku's low chuckle, and it made something churn in the pit of his stomach.

"Don't astronauts need to make sure their eyesight is 20/20?" Gen redirected the conversation. "Shall we turn on a light?"

Senku stopped thumbing through his files and regarded Gen for a second. "They actually don't. Their vision only needs to be _correctable_ to 20/20." A pause. He probably realized Gen didn't know how to set up the circuits himself. "But why not?"

Senku fished for their primitive lightbulb and the battery that powered it and placed it on one of the tables in the middle of the room. Senku found the files he was looking for and busied himself with crossing out and circling numbers and variables. 

"You'd be the one making the astronaut rules in the first place, wouldn't you?" Gen brought up once they'd settled into their work.

Senku smirked thinking about it. "Huh, I guess I would be." 

They worked in companionable silence for the rest of the night. Senku must have figured out the corrections he needed to make in just a few minutes because he busied himself with tinkering with some metallic components, while Gen was still stuck on the gears. If it was just to keep him company, Senku'd never say. If the lightbulb had blown out from being left on all night, Gen'd never say.

And if they fell asleep next to each other propped against one of the walls, only to wake when Suika bounded in with Chalk, they'd also never say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter will include the "i already liked you" scene and im lsdkfjksdljfsdf, honestly cant believe inagaki wrote yaoi in my mf Shonen Anime


End file.
